2005-2014

Picture this: someone writes, emails or phones you to say that something you wrote on your blog is libellous and is threatening to sue. Do you take it seriously? Do you take down your material? Do you say you're sorry? Or do you face your nemesis in court? The independent charitable trust Sense About Science has put together a guide entitled "So you've had a threatening letter. What can you do?"...

Radio presenter Francisco Gomes de Medeiros' murder on October 18 in the northeastern state of Rio Grande do Norte was carried out on the orders of a jailed drug trafficker, according to a report in the Diário de Natal daily newspaper on December 3, quoting the local police. Valdir Souza do Nascimento, who was arrested in 2007 and is now serving a sentence for drug trafficking in Alcaçuz prison...

The Lilongwe Magistrate court has freed Gabriel Kamlomo, online editor for Zodiak Broadcasting Station (ZBS), a privately owned radio station. Kamlomo was accused of publishing "false information likely to cause public alarm". In a ruling issued on December 2, Senior Resident Magistrate Vikochie Ndovi said the court found Kamlomo with no case to answer, the Namibia-based Media Institute of...

Publisher Irfan Sanci (Sel Yayincilik/Publishing), recipient of the 2010 IPA Freedom Prize - Special Award, and the translator of Guillaume Apollinaire's Adventures of the Young Don Juan, have been acquitted in Istanbul. IPA, which observed the trial, welcomes their acquittal, hoping this will lead to other publishers' acquittals and a significant decrease in freedom to publish trials in Turkey...

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) has denounced the Yemeni political security organisation (intelligence) for preventing the distribution of elThowry newspaper, a publication of the Yemeni opposition socialist party in Aden, southern Yemen. The newspaper had reported on recent arrests in Aden. A number of citizens were detained as they were celebrating Independence Day which...

Iran has sentenced a prominent reformist journalist to 16 months in jail on charges of insulting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and undermining the Islamic regime, he told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Sunday. Mashallah Shamsolvaezin heads the Journalists' Association of Iran and was the editor of several reformist dailies closed in a crackdown on the press between 1998 and 2000. "I was sentenced...

Slovenians rejected a new media law Sunday which the government had said was designed to limit political influence on the state radio and television broadcaster, in a national vote marked by low turnout, says a Reuters report. Preliminary results of the referendum released by 2055 GMT showed 72.6 percent of voters rejected the law, with only 27.4 percent backing it, the state electoral committee...

A recent spate of journalists' arrests in Zimbabwe has compelled the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) and more than 100 journalists to petition Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to stop the harassment of the media. According to MISA, among other cases, the petition is a reaction to the arrest of Nqobani Ndlovu from The Standard newspaper. Ndlovu was arrested on November 17 in Bulawayo...

The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers has released its final statement on the case of imprisoned journalist Eynulla Fatullayev. The statement emphasises that, as a member of the Council of Europe, Azerbaijan has agreed to abide by the final judgment of the court. "The November 11 ruling by the Azerbaijani Supreme Court makes Fatullayev's release possible. However, he remains behind bars and...

The Anglican Bishop for Western Buganda Diocese, Kefa Kamya Ssemakula, on December 6 assaulted Brian Luwagga, a photojournalist with Kamunye newspaper. Kamunye is a Luganda-based affiliate of the Red Pepper publication. Luwagga was photographing the bishop at the Masaka High Court premises, where he had been taken by Christian followers in the Diocese contesting the way his successor had been...